Baked green bean salad with sliced almond ささげのオーブン焼きサラダ

This is a rather simple dish made from baked green beans. As long as the green beans are good, this is a wonderful dish. To us, it is always hit-or-miss when it comes to green beans. Some have very tough skins and no matter how long you cook them, the skin remains tough and you might as well throw them out. Other times, the green beans are very nice and just a little of cooking, either boiling, sautéing, or baking, makes them nice and sweet, slightly crunchy--no tough skin. When the green beans are good, our favorite way of cooking is to just bake them with olive oil and salt (about 30 minutes in 350F oven). Beans cooked this way are wonderful as is but we went a step further making them into a nice salad.



Dressing: This is my regular dressing. I finely chopped shallots (1 medium), Dijon mustard (2 tbs), honey (2 tbs), rice vinegar (3 tbs), salt and black pepper to taste. I drizzled in a good fruity olive oil while whisking vigorously. Because of the mustard, it will make an emulsion. I am not sure how much olive oil but I just taste every-now-and-then until it does not taste too acidic (probably 1/3 cup).
Just dress the baked green beans. My wife roasted whole almonds (4-5 minutes in a toaster oven). While they were hot, I sliced them and let if cool down. We sprinkled them on top as a garnish.

The acidity and slight sweetness of the dressing really enhances the baked green beans. The almonds add a nice crunch. Toasting them really adds to their flavor.

Chicken skin salad with yuzu-koshou 雛皮の柚子胡椒サラダ

This is a variation on the theme of chicken skin. I was going to make a simple chicken skin dish but found out I was out of Ponzu (-shouyu) sauce. So I made the sauce with soy sauce, rice vinegar and yuzu koshou 柚子胡椒. This is a perfect refreshing sunomono 酢の物 salad to start.



Dressing: I made a mixture of soy sauce (reduced salt, 2 tbs), rice vinegar (3 tbs) and the juice accumulated in the container of saka mushi or sake-steamed chicken (2 tbs).  You should taste it and if it is too salty or vinegary, you might want to dilute this with dashi broth if you did not make saka mushi chicken. This dressing is similar to  a Japanese vinegar dressing called “Nihaizu” 二杯酢. I added about 1/2 tsp of yuzu-koshou in 7 tbs of the soy sauce vinegar mixture but the amount of yuzu-koshou is up to your taste.

Chicken skin: This is again the skin from two spilt breasts I made into saka mushi chicken. As usual, after removing any fat layer I could remove I sliced it into a thin julienne and marinated in the above dressing overnight in the refrigerator.

Other items: I just used whatever was available cutting it into julienne of similar size to the chicken skin pieces. From the left, wakame seaweed (1/4 cup after hydration, hydrated and roughly cut, gold thread egg or “kinshiran” 金糸卵 (from one egg), cucumber (one mini-cucumber, sliced on a slant and julienned, and daikon radish, 2 inch segment, peeled, sliced and julienned. The cucumber and daikon were salted, kneaded, and let stand for a few minutes, with the excess moisture squeezed out.



I added the wakame, cucumber and daikon into the container in which the chicken skin marinated in the yuzu-koshou sauce and mixed. I served this in a shallow grass bowl making a small mound in the center and topped them with golden thread egg as seen in the first picture.

This was much better than I expected. The yuzu-koshou gave it a nice zing of yuzu citrus flavor. This is a very nice refreshing sunomono salad. You could easily substitute the chicken skin with ham or any cooked meat. I can also add threads of jelly fish or kurage くらげ to this for the texture. I could also add sesame oil to this but without sesame oil, this is more refreshing.

Meatloaf hash ミートローフハッシュ

I keep posting leftover dishes. This one is also made from leftover meatloaf my wife made one day. "Hash", most commonly "corned beef hash", is a very popular breakfast dish in American diners. Essentially diced potatoes, meat, and onion fried together in a skillet and often served with eggs and toast. As I said before, any hearty breakfast can be had as a late night snack after drinking to absorb the excess alcohol. Along with German omelet, any variation of hash should be served at any Izakaya in my opinion.

This is for two servings as a breakfast or late night snack.

Meat: Any precooked or cured meat such as corned beef (typically from a tin or you could make it yourself), roast beef, or even sausage (uncooked, out of the casing). Since I had leftover meatloaf that my wife made the other day, I crumbled it and used it. The amount was about two slices worth (about 2 inches thick).

Potato: I microwaved Yukon gold potatoes (2 medium) for about 6 minutes (take care not overcook.  I tested doneness using a bamboo skewer towards the end of the 6 minutes and adjusted the cooking time). While it was hot, I removed the skin (holding the hot potato using a paper towel) and diced.

Onion: I first halved the onion and then sliced it to make thin strips (one medium).

I added olive oil (2 tbs) in a non-stick frying pan (or a seasoned cast iron skillet if you have one) and sautéed the onion for 5-7 minutes on medium heat until soft and edges browned, I then added the diced and cooked potatoes and crumbled meatloaf. After sautéing for one minute or so I seasoned with salt and black pepper. I pressed the hash to the bottom of the pan (picture below) and let it brown for a few minutes and then turned it over using a spatula (in small segments) to brown the other side and make it crusty. I repeated this process several times until a nice brown crust covered most of the hash.

This was a lot of food for us. We did forgo the eggs and served this with Campari tomato (skinned and lightly salted) and pickled okra (from the jar). I garnished it with fresh basil and ketchup. My wife also added slices of smoked cheddar. Althought it did not melt well it tasted good.

Ground pork curry ひき肉カレー

I mentioned that pork gyouza stuffing is very versatile and can be used as the base for other dishes. This is another example of that kind of versatility. Of course you could make this curry dish with just simple ground meat. In any case, I had some leftover gyouza stuffing (about 9 oz or about 250 grams) and decide to use it up before it went bad.

This may have been inspired by keema curry but this version is not at all authentic. Japanese have created many Japanese variations of curry beside the classic Japanese curry which in itself is a variation based on British modification of the classic indian curry. These Japanese variations include "dry"curry and a rather modern invention in my home town, Sapporo 札幌, Hokkaido 北海道 called "soup" curry. This curry I made is sort of cross between these latter two.



I included chunky potato and served this a closing dish or "shime" 〆 or ending dish. I made this curry a day before I served it.

Meat: Leftover gyouza stuffing (9 oz or 250 grams) made of ground pork mixed garlic chive, ground ginger and ground garlic.

Vegetable: I used onion (one medium, finely chopped), celery (2 stalks, finely chopped), carrot (2 medium, peeled, finely chopped), yellow squash (half with seeds removed and finely diced, optional, I happened to have it), garlic (1 clove, finely chopped), and ginger root (1/2 tsp finely chopped). I also peeled some small white potatoes (6-7).

I added light olive oil (2 tbs) in a pot on medium flame. When the oil was hot, I first sautéed the garlic and ginger and then onion and celery. I added curry powder (2 tsp or more, this time I used S&B brand Japanese curry powder) and kept sautéing. After the curry powder became fragrant, I added flour (2 tbs) and kept stirring until well incorporated. I moved the vegetables on one side of the pot and added tomato paste (2 tbs) in the empty area of the pan. I sautéed the tomato paste until the color slightly darkened and mixed thoroughly into the remaining ingredients. I added the remaining vegetables except for the potatoes. I added chicken broth (1 cup, my usual Swanson low-salt no fat version). Using a silicon spatula, I mixed and scraped off any "fond" that developed on the bottom of the pot. I also added Garam masala (1 tsp, this particular one had a strong cumin flavor) and more chicken broth (2 cups). I put in the potatoes and let it simmer for 40 minutes. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning using salt and black pepper. It was moderately spicy. We did not eat this immediately. I heated it up few days later and served over rice with sautéed asparagus and Japanese curry condiments (rakkyou ラッキョウ and fukushinzuke 福神漬け).

The addition of tomato paste made this curry sauce a bit unique. The sauce mellowed and it was only mildly spicy but had lots of flavors. The use of all the finely cut vegetables also gave it an undertone reminiscent of a french mirapois.  As an impromptu, leftover control cuisine, this was not bad at all.

Deviled eggs デビルドエッグ

This is a very old fashioned appetizer but recently it has been making a come-back. My wife made three different flavors; the one with parsley (back) is classic mayo and mustard flavor, the one with slices of conichon pickle (middle) is curry flavored and the one with red sauce (front) is flavored with Sriracha hot sauce.

Sometime ago, our dear friend who was in her late 70s served us deviled eggs as an appetizer. We really liked them and thought about making some ourselves. A few months later, my wife found a "deviled egg serving plate" (#5 in the image below) and bought it. But the plate sat unused in the cabinet for several years. One weekend, my wife, out of the blue, suggested making deviled eggs. She must have had some train of thought leading up to the idea but, from my vantage point, her statement came completely out of the blue. Since this is a perfect drinking snack and Japanese really like eggs, I thought this could be the next new craze in Izakaya cuisine (probably not).

My only task for this dish was making perfect hard-boiled eggs. I do not like overcooked eggs—you know the kind; the ones with the green surface on the yolks (ferrous sulfide forming at the interface between the yolk and white). This is how I make hard boiled or, as I prefer to say, completely cooked boiled eggs.

I took the eggs (1 dozen) from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. I punched a pinhole in the air cell side (rounder end) using an egg piercer (to prevent the eggs from cracking when the air inside expands during cooking). I brought the water to a rapid boil and turned down the flame until no bubbles were coming up. I  added the eggs using a perforated spoon. In the first  few minutes, I gently stirred the eggs hoping that this would help the egg yolks center inside the shell as they cooked but I am not sure this really helps. I let them cook for 15 minutes and immediately cooled them down in cold running water. I peeled the eggs and turned the operation over to my wife.

She made three different filings; 1. classic mayo and mustard seeds (#2 in the image below), 2. curry flavor (#3 in the image below), and 3. with hot sauce ($4 in the image below).


I removed the yolks from the whites. The shells formed by the cooked eggs whites are shown in picture 1.  I gently mashed the egg yolks with a fork until they became uniformly granular. All the flavors started with the same base. I added a mixture of half mayonnaise and yogurt to the crumbled yolks. In this case I used about 3 tbs. mayonnaise and 3 tbs. yogurt. I cut the mayo with the yogurt in an effort to be health conscience…which may not make too much sense given that we are flavoring egg yolks here. Even with the addition of the yogurt, however, the overall mixture still tastes like mayonnaise. I bloomed 1 tbs. of mustard seed (bloom by putting the seeds in a dry pan and heat until the seeds start popping like popcorn). I added 1 tsp. of celery seed, 1tbs. of Dijon mustard. and 1/2 tsp of salt. I stirred the mixture until it formed a homogeneous paste. I divided the mixture into 3 equal parts.

Traditional: I added 1/4 tsp of onion salt and 1 tbs. of Worcestershire sauce.
Curry flavor: I added 2 tsp. of curry powder (I used a mild slightly sweet powder but whatever powder you prefer will do and added to your taste), I also added another tsp of Dijon mustard.
Hot sauce flavor: I added 1 tsp. of rice vinegar, 1/4 tsp. Sriracha hot sauce, 1/4 tsp. onion salt.

I mixed each flavor until the added ingredients were completely incorporated. I  lightly salted the empty egg white shells and then spooned in the flavored mixtures—one flavor per shell.  Then I turned the operation back over to my husband who immediately garnished them making them look pretty for their photo shoot.

So how decadent was this? Eating just one flavor per sitting was out of the question. All three were very good and provided interesting variety. My wife liked the curry flavor and I liked the one with hot sauce. The bloomed mustard seeds really added to the eggs by providing a pleasing texture and a little burst of flavor (they pop when you bite down on them). This dish goes with any drink. The only problem is that even with the addition of yogurt this dish is high in cholesterol.

Mini gyouza with garlic chive ニラ入りミニ餃子

Gyouza or gyoza 餃子 is a classic Sino-Japanese dish with many variations for the stuffing, skin, size, and method of cooking (boiled, fried, and steam fried). In addition, localized (i.e. specific to the locale) variations of gyouza are popular allover Japan. Although, many eateries (including national chain stores) may specialize in serving gyouza (and ramen noodles or other Chinese dishes), it is also frequently served at an Izakaya.

Some years ago, I posted pork gyouza using square wonton skins which is the only kind of gyouza skin I can get in the regular grocery store in our area. Japanese gyouza skin is a bit smaller, thinner, and round which can be bought at a Japanese grocery store frozen but I usually do not bother getting it. Some people like a more authentic (similar to original Chinese dish) thicker chewy skin (which can be home made but we never tried).



When my wife made meatloaf, we had excess ground pork (hand chopped from the butt roast). I quickly made it to gyouza stuffing using our home grown garlic chives. This is very similar to the one I made for teba gyouza 手羽餃子 except I used onion rather than scallion and I did not add cabbage.I placed the gyouza stuffing in a sealed container and kept it in the refrigerator. This mixture is very handy to have and one could make dishes other than gyouza. Since this was available, I made this mini-gyouza one weekday evening.

Stuffing: I mixed ground pork (about 12oz), garlic chives (finely chopped about 1/4 cup but whatever amount is fine), onion (half, finely chopped, scallion also works), garlic (1/4 tsp, grated from the tube), ginger (1/2 tsp, grated from the tube), soy sauce (1 tsp), dark sesame oil (2 tbs), salt and pepper.

Gyouza skin: I happened to have a “spring roll skin” 春巻きの皮 which is readily available in any regular grocery store. I used a round dough cutter (about 2 1/2 inch diameter) and made it into a round gyouza skin (I could make three from one sheet of spring roll skin). Compared to the wonton skin, this one is thinner and more delicate, more closely resembling a Japanese gyouza skin.



Assembly: I moistened the edge of the skin with water. I placed a small amount of meat mixture in the middle, folded the skin in half forming a half moon and pressed both ends while trying to remove any air pocket between the meat mixture and the skin. I then crimped the edges as you can see above on the left.

Cooking: I added vegetable oil and dark sesame oil (1 tsp each) in a non-stick frying pan on medium flame. Although the classic way is to brown on only one side, I like to brown both sides by flipping them after 1 minute or so (the above image on right). I added several tablespoonful of hot water into the pan. You must be careful, as it will boil and steam immediately. Make sure you have the lid ready, your face is out of the way and the exhaust fan is running. I then put on a tight fitting lid and let it steam for 1-2 minutes. I then removed the lid (only a thin layer of water remaining in the bottom of the pan). I let the water completely evaporate and made the bottom of the gyouza crispy again by letting them cook for 30 seconds or so after all the water evaporated. I added a splash of dark sesame oil at the end.

I served this mini gyouza with a classic dipping sauce (equal mixture of rice vinegar and soy sauce) and side of Japanese hot mustard (from the tube). As an accompaniment, I served cucumber, radish and carrot asazuke 浅漬け.

We switch to cold sake for this.

Meatloaf ミートローフ

One weekend, my wife, all of the sudden, said, "I would like to make a meatloaf",  just like that. Although it is classic American home cooking, meatloaf does not have a stellar reputation. For many Americans, this is the dish you had as a kid but would prefer not to eat again as an adult. Many remember it as an unsophisticated dry chunk of ground meat that Mom made. My wife claims the meat loaf she ate was not like that. I am not sure what prompted my wife to suggest making a meatloaf, but I didn’t object because “come to think of it, I can post this in my blog”. So, I encouraged her to go ahead with her idea. I even provided her with a recipe I saw at "No Recipes" webpage by Marc Matsumoto. Interestingly this was dubbed as “best” but not “the best” meatloaf.



We made two loaves. So, we doubled the amount from the Marc's original recipe listed below. In addition, she did not make the sauce (the last 4 ingredients) and instead, she used straight ketchup (since that was how she remembered the meatloaf from her childhood). For some crazy reason, rather than buying ground meat, I bought a 3 pound of beef shoulder roast with bone and pork butt roast (about 2 pounds) and hand chopped the meat. In retrospect, this was way too much work. We need a decent meat grinder.

• 1 pound ground beef
• 10 ounces ground pork
• 1/2 medium onion minced
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 1.5 ounces Gruyere cheese grated
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon pimentón smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to taste
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme stems removed and minced
• 6 ounces thick-cut bacon
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• My wife added 1 tbs. of horseradish (because she said that was what was always added to the meat loaf she ate as a kid).

As per the recipe, instead of using a regular loaf pan, we made a free form loaf on a cookie sheet lined with a parchment paper, banded with thick cut bacon as you see below. My wife thought that the bacon was an overkill but she followed the recipe—It was certainly not part of the meatloaves from her childhood.



After cooking for 30 minutes in preheated 350F oven, she smeared ketchup on top and continued baking another 30 minutes (left in the above image). We let it sit for 10 minutes and moved the meatloaf to the cutting board (right in the above image). As you can see a good amount of juice and fat accumulated in the bottom of the pan.

I sliced it and served it with my wife's mashed potato (cooked and mashed small red potatoes, rice vinegar, soy sauce and butter) and oven baked green beans.

The taste? Well, it is not bad at all. According to my wife, however, this is as good as what she remembered eating as a kid but not significantly better. That means either the meatloaf she ate as a kid was indeed a very good one or this one is not necessary the "best" meatloaf. Nevertheless, this was very satisfying. The loaf was not dry and the consistency is pleasantly crumbly with good favor from all the herbs and spices we put in. The all American Heinz ketchup smeared on top was just fine but did not caramelize as much as my wife thought it would. By the way, we did not eat the bacon and will not use it if we ever make meatloaf again.

To circumvent the ill effect of meatloaf and bacon drippings, we had a good young Napa Cabernet from Spring Mountain District. This is a classic Napa cab. Nice nose, good amount of ripe fruit upfront, smooth tannin, and reasonable finish. Nothing wrong about this wine, very youthful and clean. I will give 91.

P.S. We made sandwiches for weekday lunches with this meatloaf. It was very good as a sandwich too. It is also one of those dishes that gets better the next day. We also ate it for dinner as leftovers during the week. We had it one night with a catsup based sauce (mixture of catsup, Worcestershire sauce, red wine and Dijon mustard). And one night we had it with tonkatsu sauce with Japanese hot mustard which was also very good.